Leaderboard

I haven’t been over here for a while but lo and behold, I come over and see this. I was a volunteer for DCM championships for a few years and one of the joys of my volunteer work for them, was seeing the Joliet Kingsmen every year. A small corps from East Joliet. A corps that I believe truly saved lives. It warmed my heart see to see the faces of those kids when they’d perform and then later, watch the “big corps”. What a wonderful experience for them. Then, what wasn’t so heartwarming, was watching them crushed under the wheels of the DCI money-making machine when they absorbed DCM and performance opportunities were gone for them and other groups like them. I ranted about this on RAMD decades ago and it fell upon deaf ears. No surprise there. Actions speak louder than press releases. I’ve distanced myself from the activity since the Covid pandemic. I’ve had time to think about what’s really important and after reading, yet again, about more abuses of members, I don’t know if I have the stomach for this anymore. BTW, Roman. If you’re reading this....I let those Kingsmen parents in for free at my gate. Bwahaha I’m done. Carry on.

Has nothing to do with their failed attempts to protect their members. Stop reacting so emotionally because something that has been around for so long may have made some bad decisions. And now they have to be accountable to those decisions. Yes I am very aware of who Jim Jones "was". And he would be incredibly disappointed in the leadership of his corps.

In drum corps? Absolutely not. Can't speak for anyone else though. Every drum corps I marched in has been a relatively great experience. Outside of drum corps though, I can say I have experienced it a few times in my life, although not recently. Great to be back! Took a hiatus because my White House job was killing me. But I left last week and I'm excited to retire from the military very soon!

👍LOVE IT!!

It is not that hard. Drum corps reflect the constituencies from which they recruit. Once upon a time, drum corps recruited locally, and they reflected the composition of their local communities. But not anymore. Not even the pandemic will cause a return to more local membership. Today, DCI drum corps recruit almost entirely from the membership/alumni of highly competitive USA marching bands. That focus only narrows among top corps, who increasingly utilize the subset of such young adults who have further experience with other corps. Since those are the people with the opportunities, talent, and work ethic to excel, you cannot have a top corps without them. If you want top corps to "reflect the diversity of the greater community", you need the arena of highly competitive marching bands to reflect the diversity of the greater community. How do you do that when those bands are overwhelmingly from affluent suburbs, and we institutionalize that profile by continually making these activities more and more expensive? Introspection is not hard. Action is the hard part.

An important and exciting step for the Bluecoats. Now comes the hard part - introspection on questions like why the Bluecoats and drum corps in general doesn't reflect the diversity of the greater community; what would need to happen for the the pathway to the Bluecoats Experience to be truly accessible to students from underserved and less-resourced communities; how do we select students, what are the standards we use, and are we willing to adopt measures that level the playing field even if they require us to redefine organizational success; are we striving for equal or equitable treatment of all members of the Bluecoats family? When it starts to hurt you personally...when you start to recoil a bit because you see that the changes that are needed will fundamentally change some of the things you love about the Bluecoats...that's when you know you're doing the deep work. Many organizations that start down this path don't have the intestinal fortitude to stay with it until they get to real shifts in thinking and values that result in real changes that lead to real inclusion. I'm excited and a bit scared for the Bluecoats. They've really put themselves out there, and done right, this will be a huge undertaking. It's clear they intend this work to be much deeper and more meaningful than just a policy and statement. I'll be cheering them on.

What were they doing before last Tuesday?

Unfortunately, racism is still an issue in the drum corps activity. The Bluecoats are willing to address that fact openly and set corps policy to specifically address the issue within their organization. While you may not feel this is necessary, current events have shown otherwise, as well as the experiences of drum corps members. It is those members, past, current, and future, who may appreciate a World Class drum corps working to ensure the activity is welcoming to them, starting with their own organization. Back in June, the Bluecoats Brass Podcast posted an episode entitled “The Black Experience in DCI”, interviewing members and staff who have directly experienced racism in the activity. You can listen to the episode here. The Dear Dotbook podcast has also looked at racism in the activity in a few of its episodes: Black Women in the Marching Arts Black Men in Drum Corps Science, Ethnicity, Gender, and Band Sikhism and the Marching Arts

Most of the people I've spoken to who question the need for racism policies, have never experienced racism.

Well over the last few years I’ve been around people who look for hidden messages be they spoken or non spoken. If nothing else get it on record that it won’t be tolerated. But personally I wouldn’t stop at racism, better to be clear on any discrimination or hatred.

Given that racism seems to be running rampant all over this country, it shouldn't be a surprise that they're fortifying the idea that it's not going to be tolerated.

Does anyone know if, back in the day, there were drum corps that made anti-communism statements or adopted anti-communism policies?

Take your own advice.

Good to know the Bluecoats well no longer be racist. 😎

Examples please! Just because someone said so doesn’t make it so. If I recall correctly drum corps had greater black participation in the 60’s and 70’s. Is racism responsible for all black organizations folding and far less black participation today? Share with us how and when this became an issue, and how this will be addressed to increase participation. If anything DCI has created a socio economic strata that prevents a lot of people from participation. Please no virtue signaling.

Thanks for the drive by Terri. Be safe in your hibernation and hopefully we'll "see" you in the Spring.

my question is.....who did the investigation from a law firm standpoint? Don't they have a famous alum thats a prominent lawyer out there...seems like a possible conflict of interest if so.

I see what you did there.

circle the wagons

Have you seen the psychos on there? I permanently deleted my Facebook and deactivated Twitter last Thursday. And I’m presenting asking myself why I’m posting here. I think I should probably follow suit here. Adios.

I would hope that not being racist, sexist, etc would be obvious for any organization that is a character-builder youth activity. I guess I am overly optimistic.

I’m sorry that you don’t understand this goes beyond the Bluecoats and they’re at least making an effort to start to chip away at something so ingrained in our society. I think your comment proves my point.

Why do the Bluecoats need an anti-racism policy? Is this fixing something?

live by the social media... (don’t need to finish that line)

Reviewing social media events over the past few days: 1) After the press release from MAASIN, the corps director made statements & quotes on her FB page similar to Hop. 2) After the Troopers statement release, their social media accounts blew up with many comments of condemnation. 3) Then the corps director removed her defensive comments that were directed toward the MAASIN release & reverted back to normal inspirational quotes. 4) Finally this morning, the corps director has removed or suspended her FB account. What a great time to be alive...

My thoughts are the procedures a person with a corps (marcher, staff, volunteer, etc) can follow to report and hopefully resolve an issue. Not a question of knowing it’s wrong but what can a victim do. If a victim doesn’t know who to report to or what they can do after an incident then all the don’t do it rules are useless

the old YEA Board said "hold our beer"

That is the most ridiculous thing I've read today and that's saying something. The Troopers have been around for over 60+ years and are a charter member of DCI. What should they be "shut down" for? Do you even know who Jim Jones was?

Yay. Another SJW website - band geek edition.

Watch it; I was chastised for asking anything about the organization. It looks like a legal 'sh*tshow' is about to begin...

This is a great question for those who have been on the scene for a while. Unquestionably there have been those who were "great" in terms of advancing their own corps, and some have already been noted here. But a deeper question is suggested: Who was the greatest in advancing the entire activity? It's hard to top Jim Jones for almost single-handedly modeling the notion that there could be drum corps virtually anywhere; or Mickey Petrone and Lefty Mayer for birthing and sustaining DCA; or the Bernerts for advancing the cause of gender equality. Don Pescione was once a corps director, as was Dan Acheson. They ultimately accomplished great things for all drum corps. Then there are the ones like Jim Latham (Minnisink Warriors), Fr. Wochtecha (St. Vincent's), Art Forcier and Fr. DeProfio (St. Raphael's) and so many others who guided corps in the inner cities at a time when young people there were in desperate need of a positive outlet. (They still are.) It comes down to how one defines greatness. I suspect there is more than one legitimate way and no best answer to this question. Still, let's name all the great ones we can here. They deserve the recognition.

MAASIN (Marching Arts Access, Safety, and Inclusion Network) has released a report on concerning allegations at The Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps The report can be seen at www.MAASIN.net Edited title to better reflect the contents in the report edited to correct web address (thanks JimF-LowBari